International briefs

Canada doubles international students in 10 years The Canadian government has said that last year’s intake of 80,0000 international students represented an almost doubling of the figures for a decade earlier. Embassy* magazine reported that international student recruitment numbers jumped nearly 15,000 in 2008 from the 64,636 recruited in 2007. The increase was put down to increased promotional efforts, and improved staffing and resourcing. South Korea was the biggest source country (14,000) followed by China (9500) and France (4000). The government has been running an “Imagine Education in Canada" brand, which frames Canada as a great place for foreign students to study, in 23 overseas countries. Recruitment is expected to continue to grow due to relatively cheap tuition fees and a weak Canadian dollar. Calls for NZ to follow Australia’s lead New Zealand is looking to Australia with demands that the government relax its cap on enrolments and also drive increased targets for graduates, following recent announcements by education minister Julia Gillard. The NZ Vice-Chancellors Committee last week called for the government to follow Australia’s lead in aiming to increase its proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds with degrees from 32 to 40 per cent by 2025. Committee deputy chair Derek McCormack said the equivalent figure in New Zealand was less than 30 per cent. If New Zealand did not come up with a similar measure, not only would it fall further behind Australia on that measure, but the benefits of having an educated workforce would more likely go to Australia than New Zealand in future, NZ Education Review reported. “New Zealand needs to consider a similar, long-term public investment in university education if it is to remain remotely competitive on an international basis. This is reinforced by the fact that other jurisdictions have set targets higher than that proposed by the Australians – the UK and Sweden both want 50 per cent of their 24 to 35 year-year-olds to hold a bachelor’s degree or higher in the years ahead,” he said. UK to fast track teachers Teacher training courses will be cut from a year to six months as the UK government encourages “high-calibre” people to change profession midway through their career. The scheme will also be open to graduates . “By cutting the initial teacher training course to six months for the most able candidates, we will make teaching a more attractive choice for experienced people who want to get into the classroom quickly but need high quality initial teacher training” said schools minister Jim Knight. The Independent. Indian students prefer Australia Australia is fast emerging as a major destination of choice for Indian students thanks to “liberal" education visa rules and prospect of a career helping the cause, the Press Trust of India reported last week. Australia is now second only to the US, with 97,000 students currently studying at Australian universities. Enrolments of Indian student have increased at an average annual rate of around 41 per cent since 2002. SA Premier Mike Rann told visiting Indian journalists that “Australia is emerging as a seat of higher learning and the scope of educational facilities set to expand as top universities of the world like Carnegie Mellon and University of London will be opening their international campuses here soon," Last year alone saw a whopping 30,000 Indian students enrolling in different educational institutions in Australia, the official said. UK universities push for higher fees University vice-chancellors in England and Wales have demanded a sharp increase in tuition fees, according to a survey by BBC News. Two thirds of vice-chancellors surveyed by the BBC said they needed to raise fees, suggesting levels of between $8000 and $40,000 per year. More than half of university heads want students to pay at least $10,000 per year or for there to be no upper limit. England's higher education minister David Lammy said there was an "important debate to be had". However, the National Union of Students warned that students might accumulate debts of $64,000 if fees rose to $14,000 per year. Currently, fees must be reviewed this year by the government - and there are already arguments about whether the present $7000 cap on fees should be lifted.